1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to cotton picker apparatus and more particularly, to an apparatus for quickly, securely and efficiently connecting and disconnecting a lubricant reservorr to a lubrication distribution pump of a cotton picker spindle lubrication system.
2. Art Background
Cotton, the vegetable fiber produced by shrubs and small trees of the genus Gossypium, has been cultivated and utilized for at least five thousand years and still constitutes one of the leading cash crops of United States agriculture. Successful cultivation of cotton requires a long growing season with abundant sunshine and water during the period of growth and dry weather when the cotton is ready for harvest. It is critical to the harvest that it be completed in as short a period as possible, no longer than eighteen to twenty days. If harvesting is delayed beyond that period, the cotton will discolor making it commercially undesirable, and some cotton will simply blow away. Rain creates additional risk to the quality of the cotton and the effectiveness of the harvest, so that the longer the harvest proceeds the greater the risk it will rain during the harvest. Thus efficient utilization of time is extremely important, and any method of reducing "down time" of the cotton harvest apparatus will greatly improve the success of, and the yield from, the harvest.
One of the necessary tasks which heretofore has taken considerable time during the cotton harvest is the lubrication of the harvesting machines, known as cotton pickers. Cotton pickers are self-propelled and utilize rows of spindles to pick and process the cotton. The spindles are mounted upon moving bars and rotate at speeds up to 4000 rpm. The spindles and associated gears and bearings are lubricated by a thin (NLGI Grade 00) grease known simply as cotton-picker grease, which is introduced into the bars through a series of lubricating ports. Approximately thirty to forty pounds of grease are required to fill a cotton picker spindle system on a two row cotton picker harvester.
Heretofore, the application and replenishment of cotton picker spindle grease has consumed a significant amount of lost production time or down time which is critical during the harvest period. Industry practice is to refill the spindle bars after each ten hours of operation. This refilling operation must be performed while the machinery is already warm and cannot be done prior to beginning the harvesting in the morning, inasmuch as the grease will not flow properly through the system until the machinery is warm. The conventional practice, therefore, has been to send a maintenance vehicle with grease applicators to meet and lubricate the cotton picker somewhere in the fields during the harvesting operation. The refilling operation done in this way normally takes from forty-five minutes to an hour, during which time the cotton picker is idle and unable to harvest. It also requires the use of a separate maintenance vehicle to meet the cotton picker and provide the requisite grease.
The use of continuous grease applicators such as are customarily employed on large trucks and continuously operating machinery has not generally been successful when applied to cotton pickers. The consumption of cotton picking grease during harvest does not occur at a uniform rate, and heretofore continuous application systems have not been found that could supply the required amount of grease in all parts of the system.
In one recent prior art device incorporates a bulk reservoir mounted on the machine. Grease is pumped into the reservoir and periodically added to the system by a belt-driven pump with an electric clutch. This approach has the obvious disadvantage that the reservoir itself must be periodically filled, a time-consuming and labor intensive operation. The reservoir is mounted near the cotton basket at the top of the machines and since cotton dust can be ignited by a spark, basket fires are not unusual. Of course, the proximity of the large quantity of grease can increase the severity of the fire. Thus, this system has not been able to solve the problems of cotton-picker lubrication.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,769,978 discloses a lubrication distribution system for a cotton picker machine in which a reservoir of grease is disposed on-board a cotton picker. This system appears to require tools to connect the reservoir to the lubrication system. The use of tools and a complex interconnection system has the disadvantage of requiring a substantial amount of time to complete the lubrication process.
In a co-pending patent application of the common assignee hereof, a process and apparatus for lubricating the spindle bars of a cotton picker utilizing a disposable lubricating reservoir that is attached using standard plumbing fittings and tools is disclosed. This lubrication system saves considerable time and effort over prior art systems. The present invention is directed toward further increasing the efficiency of the system by providing an efficient apparatus and method of connecting disposable lubricant containers to the inlet of the lubricant distribution pump.